stiff upper lip
nounEtymology Of American origin; the earliest known use is in 1811.https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Olive_Branch_Or_Faults_on_Both_Sides/vG89AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=stiff+upper+lip&pg=PA237&printsec=frontcover
1
Idiomatic The quality of being resolute and showing self-restraint, stereotypically associated with the British; especially as keep a stiff upper lip.
- I thought now the jig was mighty nigh up with me, but I determined to keep a stiff upper lip.1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 130:
- Stiff upper lip, stout fella. Carry on, old fluff. Chin up, keep muddling through. Stiff upper lip, stout fella, when the going’s rough. Pip pip to old man trouble and a toodle-oo too.[…] Stiff upper lip, stout fella, when you’re in the stew. Sober or blotto, this is your motto. Keep muddling through.1959, “Stiff Upper Lip”, in Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook, performed by Ella Fitzgerald:
2 more examples
- [...] Jeeves came in, bowler hat in hand, to say goodbye. A solemn moment, taxing our self-control to the utmost. However, we both kept the upper lip stiff, and after we had kidded back and forth for a while he started to withdraw. [...] He poked his head round the tree as I arrived, and when I waved a cheery hand at him, waved a fairly cheery hand at me. Though I only caught a glimpse of him, I could see that his upper lip was stiff.1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “II AND XV”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
- In typical British stiff upper lip fashion, the tournament organizers expected us to play into, and through, the menacing weather.2005, Ben Wright, Michael Patrick Shiels, Good Bounces and Bad Lies, page 39:
- Derived terms
- stiff-upper-lipped, stiff-upper-lippery
- Related terms
- mustn't grumble